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March 1, 2007

Día de las Acequias, a coming together of friends and a Blessing of the water

Over 450 Acequia Parciantes and supporters gathered in the State Capitol Rotunda on February 15th, Día de las Acequias, to celebrate New Mexico’s acequias and acequia traditions.Students from the Las Vegas, Mora and Taos school systems also joined in the celebration, representing the next generation of acequia farmers and ranchers.

Día de las Acequias, sponsored by the New Mexico Acequia Association featured a blessing of New Mexico’s water wherein participants from throughout the state brought water which was collected in an earthen jug and blessed by Ernest Armijo, a Hermano Mayor with Los Hermanos Penitentes.

Another highlight of the event was the reading of NMAA’s El Agua es la Vida Declaración.The Declaración is a statement in which we declare that we recognize, honor and respect water as sacred and sustaining all life, and we resolve to challenge the political and economic forces that drive development resulting in the transfer of water rights out of agricultural use.Click here to view the full text of NMAA’s El Agua es la Vida Declaración.

Senator Phil Griego, Senator John Grubesic, Senator Carlos Cisneros, Representative Bobby Gonzales and Speaker Ben Lujan were present at the event and all addressed the crowd, reiterating their support for preserving New Mexico’s acequias and for the work done by the New Mexico Acequia Association.Speaker Lujan presented a certificate to NMAA officially recognizing the importance of Acequia Culture within the State of New Mexico.

The event closed with a singing of the Versos a la Acequia, a musical tribute to New Mexico’s acequias written by Cipriano Vigil and NMAA Concilio member Facundo Valdez and a dance performance by the Ballet Folklorico from PecosIndependentSchool and the Hip-Hop Dancers from Pecos Elementary.The over 450 people participating in Día de las Acequias then shared a meal as we all broke bread in celebration of New Mexico’s acequias.